The present invention relates to a security device for restricting or discouraging the unauthorized removal of shopping carts and other similar swivel wheeled carts from designated areas.
At the present time, there are many thousands of markets and stores which utilize a significant number of shopping carts in or on their premises. Customers are generally allowed to take shopping carts from the store to their cars in the parking lot. Unfortunately, a significant number of shopping carts are removed or stolen from store parking lots. Customers without cars sometimes use the carts to transport their groceries home, and then either abandon them or keep them for future use. The loss rate from such unauthorized uses and thefts is alarmingly high and is extremely expensive for the store owners who must replace lost carts. It is estimated that more than a million shopping carts are stolen annually from markets and stores in the United States alone. These thefts result in significant annual losses for store owners.
Shopping cart anti-theft or security devices proposed in the past have mainly comprised some form of wheel locking or braking system. U.S. Pat. No. 3,031,037 to Stollman shows a device for locking the wheel of a shopping cart against rotation when the cart passes over a magnetic barrier. All of the devices of this type generally require some modification of the shopping cart wheel itself, which is relatively expensive and awkward. Also, the known devices are often relatively open to tampering to release the lock.